Webbed belts are commonly used as passenger restraints in motor vehicles. It is also well known to restrain a wheelchair within a motor vehicle using a webbed belt. Furthermore, retractors are used to automatically retract the webbed belt when it is not in use. In certain applications, particularly in public transportation vehicles, it is often necessary to reconfigure the passenger compartment of the vehicle to address changing needs. For example, a bus or passenger train may include an area adaptable to accommodate either wheelchair-bound passengers or seated passengers. For this reason, public transportation vehicles often have a floor-mounted track for removably attaching wheelchair restraints as well as a wall-mounted track for removably attaching occupant restrain shoulder belts. In addition to allowing removal of the wheelchair restraints and occupant restraints, floor-mounted tracks and wall-mounted tracks also allow for flexible accommodation of one or several wheelchairs in the vehicle at any location where tracks are installed.
Among the various tracks that have been installed in vehicles for removably attaching wheelchair restrains and occupant restraints, a common design is referred to as L-track. L-track is substantially C-shaped in cross-section and has a channel that extends along the longitudinal axis of the track. So that retractor anchors may be placed into the channel, L-track includes a longitudinally extending slot formed through an upper surface of the track and in communication with the channel. In order to restrain a retractor anchor at a particular location along the L-track, a plurality of substantially cylindrical apertures extend through the upper surface of the track, spaced evenly along the slot. A variety of track fittings have been previously used to connect wheelchair restraint mechanisms to L-track. In order to allow some degree of flexibility in the position of the track fittings with respect to the wheelchair and occupant, many previously used track fittings have attempted to allow pivotal rotation of the retractor with respect to the track fitting. However, previous designs have been of limited utility, largely due to interference between the retractor and the release mechanism, which allows the track fitting to be removed from the track. In some designs, the release mechanism prevents 360° rotation of the retractor. In other designs, the retractor overlies the release mechanism at certain angular positions of the retractor, thereby impeding operation of the release mechanism.
It would be desirable to have a retractor anchor wherein the release mechanism does not interfere with rotation of the retractor, and wherein the release mechanism may be conveniently operated regardless of the angular orientation of the retractor with respect to the retractor anchor.